The Dales

Ald-Amuras Cherished Breadbasket

Farms— A thousand skyscrapers overflow with vines and trees. Ald-Amura’s central farm backbone feeds a billion mouths and could feed a billion more, if ever they need to. An agricultural miracle, made possible by collaboration, planning, and the hard work of generations.

The People

Nestled within the fertile valleys of the Ander-Tinaris mountains is one of the most breathtaking works of agricultural engineering ever designed. Spread throughout the valley, densely packed together and linked by a network of foot and bike paths, are around a thousand farms built skyward. Each of them stand 50 stories tall and are packed to the brim with the crops that feed, clothe, and empower the vast majority of people in Ald-Amura.

Commonly understood as a single body, the Dales are tended to by a loose coalition of dozens of farming confederates, each in charge of maintaining specific kinds of crops—the Industrial Fibre Crop Worker’s Coalition, for example, is responsible for tending to fibrous crops that are used for textiles, paper, string, and rope. These coalitions grew rapidly during the centralization efforts of the vanguard parties, following The Last War. After the transition period, the now-autonomous groups continued their work, greatly expanding the original food-only farm structures to include crops of all kinds required for comfortable life in Ald-Amura.

The Dales are universally seen as one of the greatest achievements of the revolution, and their workers are seen as heroes and often garner special treatment at inns and restaurants if they happen to be seen wearing their uniforms. The common Ald-Amura phrase “A farmer never pays for their meal,” a phrase which used to preach self-sufficiency in the time of kings, nowadays refers to a sort of communal responsibility to look after those that look after society.

Working the Dales is some of the more grueling work one can do in Ald-Amura. Long hours, difficult conditions, and ever-shifting goals make it frustrating and draining work, but the farming confederations are legendary for taking care of their own—farmers work only for a third of the year before being cycled out into teaching, training, or recreational time. This practice prevents burnout, and preserves vital wisdom for future farmers.

In addition to farmers, the Dales rely on an enormous network of distributors, administration staff, researchers, communications experts, mail staff, and so on. A small city, also called the Dales, houses and provides entertainment and comforts to the tens of thousands of workers that staff the enormous farms.

Local Monster

The Dales is considered blessed by the virtue of its overwhelming Monster population. Over three dozen Monsters make their homes in the Dales, some nesting in the surrounding mountain ranges, some making themselves comfortable in the lakes and rivers that dot the picturesque lavender fields, and some rather more directly making their homes in the cities and farms.

The Monsters that live here all came here for the same reason that people did—their skills and abilities were vital to ensuring the success of this project and eliminating hunger for good. Monsters use their magic to enrich the soil, to pack the hydroponics with minerals, to take part in the harvest, and to help distribute the crops to their intended recipients. Monsters of all stripes can be seen working the Dales alongside their human comrades.

Notable Sublocations

  • Tower 448—While the Dales mostly concern themselves with practical crops, Tower 448 is one of the “Special Project Towers’’ dedicated to alternative farming methods or special crops. 448 is dedicated to the preservation of ancient, extinct, or hypothetical plants. Plants which can only exist in certain reality spaces, plants that have died out, and fossilized plants reborn through magic and science clutter all 50 stories of this tower, tended to by archaeobotanists.
  • Tower 343—A tower everyone likes to visit on a trip to the Dales. 343 is known as The Fang, and contains every poisonous, venomous, and toxic plant form known to Ald-Amura. It is tended to by one of the only plant-based Monsters, Gallante the Green-Faced One. Be sure to wear your gasmask and personal protection equipment before entering.

What Happens When You Arrive

  1. A great inferno rages in the farms. Who started it? How can we put it out?
  2. One of the towers has become sentient, and is convincing the others to do so too.
  3. A mind-boggling number of bats have been sweeping through the farms every night, devouring enormous amounts of food.
  4. The ghosts of plants long dead have been appearing all over the Dales.
  5. Stars have been falling from the sky all around the Dales lately, glowing a faint gold amongst the heather.
  6. Species of plant are mutating at an absurd pace, with three hundred new species discovered in the last couple of hours.